The report by the HRW that there have been killings of security personnel and officials of the former Ashraf Ghani administration has been met by condemnation by the USA, the UK, the EUÂ and 19 other countries and a demand for a full investigation. Such an expression of concern cannot be dismissed by any government which looks to these very countries to bail it out. The Taliban find themselves in the position of seeking the help of the very powers it chased out of Kabul to help it and the people of Afghanistan survive the winter. The Taliban may have found themselves unprepared to take the country through winter, but that should not excuse it from reining in over-enthusiastic followers.
The killings are not apparently judicial executions, but even in that case, that would violate the amnesty the Taliban gave to those working for the previous regime. Any government complicity would merely add to the patchy record of the Taliban in honoring their promises to the powers they ousted. They should also realize the negative effects of a government conniving at private vengeance. The state is supposed to maintain a monopoly on violence, especially one which, like the Taliban, rests so much of its appeal on maintaining law and order.
The Taliban needs to conduct thorough investigations into all incidents, not just because it is right, but for its own good. Especially where it had promised an amnesty, it could not wink at so-called revolutionary justice, and now it must ensure security to those it amnestied, not because potential donors object, but because the time for revolutionary justice is long past. The Taliban claim to follow a religion with a strong judicial tradition, and it is to be noted that a large number of its leaders have experience as heads of courts administering military justice. If the amnesty did not apply to certain individuals, were they tried before being executed? The Taliban must remember that they form the government now, and are responsible to make sure that all citizens get justice.
